A funky Flea celebrates his birthday, his school’s founding

By ANDREW DALTON
AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Flea had a funky birthday. So did the music school he co-founded that has become a Los Angeles institution. As the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist turned 59 on Saturday, his Silverlake Conservatory of Music turned 20. They celebrated with a joint party in the school’s parking lot. Flea led a band assembled for the occasion through a series of funk standards including James Brown’s “Gonna Have a Funky Good Time.” He called celebrating 20 years of his nonprofit school that provides scholarships for kids to study music “the best possible birthday gift I could have imagined.”